Arrests of migrants across upstate surged this summer, driven by more agents and a federal response to a new state law that restricts cooperation with local law enforcement agencies.
Vicki Ross, right, a board member of the Western New York Peace Center, protests a Homeland Security job fair Tuesday at Buffalo’s Outer Harbor. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker.
The City of Buffalo has been an epicenter of a surge in arrests by ICE agents this year. Apprehensions are on pace to grow by nearly 69 percent over last year and few of those targeted — only 11 percent — have a criminal record.
Among those seized were Keiber Alexander Esposito Martinez, a chef at Casa Azul, a Mexican restaurant in the city’s Allentown neighborhood. Originally from Venezuela, he was arrested in June on his way to work…